Bill Kelso "Cuoio" Aeronaut natural Badalassi

[Edward]

Two things: the idea of a cheap version as a style tester is genius i think. I've bought jackets (and other clothing!) myself in the past that I've lusted over for ages before finally taking the plunge, to discover i never actually wear them in anger. No matter how good something looks and how much you dig it, if you don't feel it suits you once it's on you won't feel comfortable. And if you don't feel comfortable, you never reach for it.

There is somethin to be said for it, though I would tend to be wary of buying cheap without the chance to handle it first. Other thing to bear in mind, of course, is that cheap can sometimes mean you're the last owner. If you then end up buying the Aero or whatever anyhow.... so a lot depends on how cheap is really cheap if you take a big peroportionate loss on resale, or end up buying the "real" thing anyhow. One alterantive approach is to wait for the big name version to crop up on eBay; if you're careful, buying used means that you can resell without any real loss if it doesn't work out.

That said, there are some jackets I favour on the cheap because I know I'm not going to wear them especially often, even though I want one - take the Indy jacket. Got to have a decent Indy, but will never wear it quite as often as a halfbelt, so the Wested is an ideal compromise. Also bought a Schott 618 for my Perfecto cravings, and saved the extra for an Aero in a style I will wear much more often.

 

[l0fielectronic]

That said, there are some jackets I favour on the cheap because I know I'm not going to wear them especially often, even though I want one - take the Indy jacket. Got to have a decent Indy, but will never wear it quite as often as a halfbelt, so the Wested is an ideal compromise. Also bought a Schott 618 for my Perfecto cravings, and saved the extra for an Aero in a style I will wear much more often.

This was pretty much my thinking.

I wish I could be someone happy with one or two or three jackets but I'm not that person and I do enjoy owning, buying, wearing different jackets. (I don't think I'm alone in this and as such, the budget is sometimes limited)

Quality wise I would say it certainly comes in the good value category, it was better than I expected tbh with some nice details; the wood buttons have a nice feel to them and the buckles are not cheapo items. Its certainly much better quality than something you could easily pay twice the price for in a high street fashion shop and it looks a lot better too. Is it an Aero or something in the high three figure/four figure price bracket? No its not but for the price and style its not bad at all so a thanks to the link poster here in the thread.

 

[Edward]

This was pretty much my thinking.

I wish I could be someone happy with one or two or three jackets but I'm not that person and I do enjoy owning, buying, wearing different jackets. (I don't think I'm alone in this and as such, the budget is sometimes limited)

Quality wise I would say it certainly comes in the good value category, it was better than I expected tbh with some nice details; the wood buttons have a nice feel to them and the buckles are not cheapo items. Its certainly much better quality than something you could easily pay twice the price for in a high street fashion shop and it looks a lot better too. Is it an Aero or something in the high three figure/four figure price bracket? No its not but for the price and style its not bad at all so a thanks to the link poster here in the thread.

Sounds like it's pretty much in the Wested camp. I'm sort of surprised they haven't seen a market for a mid-price version of this style, actually, though given they specialise in jackets inspired by film wear, that's probably why.